Denis Kalinkin: “Today Kazan is one of the very few cities in Russia where the art residence operates”

Denis Kalinkin: “Today Kazan is one of the very few cities in Russia where the art residence operates”

<p> (KZN.RU, August 13, Ekaterina Vislavskaya). As part of the project art-residence “Staro-Tatarskaya Sloboda”, Kazan will host the “Tolstoy Readings” for teachers of the Russian language and literature with the participation of famous writers and literary critics. During the Business Monday, Denis Kalinkin, the head of the Kazan Executive Committee, suggested to involve not only teachers, but also schoolchildren into the meetings. </p> <p> </p> <p> The project, which is designed to contribute to the birth of new works about Kazan, was launched in November 2017 on the initiative of Ilsur Metshin, the Mayor of Kazan, and with the support of the City Executive Committee, said Azat Abzalov, the head of the Department of Culture. The idea of creating an art residence belongs to Ildar Abuzyarov, a writer, the winner of the Pushkin Prize, who is now the curator of the project. The art-residence offers writers and artists free accommodation and a small allowance to cover food expenses. And the result of their stay are artworks related to Kazan and Tatarstan, lectures and creative meetings of the residence guests with the residents of the city. In 10 months, 12 authors visited the “Staro-Tatarskaya Sloboda”, such as Roman Senchin, German Sadulaev, Pavel Basinsky, Sergey Shargunov, Taner Murat, Tatiana Voloshina-Orlova, and others. More than 30 meetings with readers, students, and literary community with the guests of the art-residence were held over 10 months of project implementation. </p> <p> </p> <p> “One of the missions of our art residence is the revival and strengthening of the interest of citizens to literature both classical and the one that is being created today, including guests of our residence”, believes Denis Kalinkin. “Bright witty meetings between writers and readers always give rise to the desire to read those magnificent books that were discussed, and it's worth a lot”. </p> <p> </p> <p> Thanks to the work of the art-residence, in Kazan, the “Tolstoy Readings” are planned for teachers of the Russian language and literature of Kazan schools this fall within the framework of the Tolstoy Year. “We plan that the reading will include 5 free lectures on the great Russian writer for teachers and will be held fr om September to November”, said Azat Abzalov. Anastasia Tolstaya, the older daughter of Vladimir Tolstoy, the Russian president's adviser on cultural policy, the great-great-grandson of Leo Tolstoy, Sergey Shargunov, a writer, Vladislav Otroshenko, a writer and a literary critic, Irwin Weill, the professor at the Northwestern University (Evanston, Ill.), the author of lectures on Russian literature and Russian music, are taking part in the project. The head of the Kazan Executive Committee supported the idea of the project. He noted that this is an excellent opportunity for teachers to look at the literary process from a new perspective and expand its horizons. In addition, he instructed to involve students into work. “I ask the Department of Education to work more closely with the curator of the project. Meetings of writers with schoolchildren should become our new tradition”, he instructed. </p> <p> </p> <p> He also reminded that the art-residence “Staro-Tatarskaya Sloboda” is an attempt to contribute to the birth of new works about Kazan. “In less than a year, we saw a strong impact: the project of the Kazan issue of the magazine “Youth”, the international competition of plays, whose plot is connected with our city, as part of the international dramatic competition “Litodrama”, and the idea of the leading publishing house “EKSMO” to create an issue about Kazan”, said Denis Kalinkin. “Today Kazan is one of the very few cities in Russia wh ere the art residence operates. I know that many writers who left Kazan immediately told about their impressions to “Rossiyskaya Gazeta”, “Nezavisimaya gazeta”, the magazines “Expert” and “Russian Pioneer”. Of course, this works well for the Kazan brand and often works much more efficiently than advertising”. </p>

2018-08-13T11:56:05+0300